Who was Muhammad Ali?
A: Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist.
What was Ali’s nickname?
A: The Greatest.
He is regarded as one of the most significant sports
figures of what?
A: The 20th century and is frequently ranked as the greatest heavyweight
boxer of all time.
In 1999, he was named what by Sports Illustrated?
A: Sportsman of the Century.
He was also named the Sports Personality of the
Century by whom?
A: The BBC.
At 18, he won a gold medal in what?
A: The light heavyweight division at the 1960
Summer Olympics and turned
professional later that year.
When did he become a Muslim?
A: After 1961.
He won the world heavyweight championship, defeating
who?
A: Sonny Liston in a major upset on February 25, 1964, at age 22.
During that year, he denounced his what?
A: His birth name as a "slave name" and formally changed his name to
Muhammad Ali.
In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the
military
owing to what?
A: His religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War.
He was found guilty of draft evasion and stripped of
what?
A: His boxing titles.
He stayed out of prison while appealing the decision to
the Supreme Court, where his conviction was what?
A: Overturned in 1971.
Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the
Vietnam War made him an icon for what?
A: The larger counterculture of the 1960s generation.
He was a very high-profile figure of racial pride for
African Americans during what?
A: The civil rights movement and throughout his career.
As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with what?
A: Elijah Muhammad's Nation of
Islam (NOI).
He later did what?
A: Disavowed the NOI, adhering to Sunni Islam.
He fought in several historic boxing matches, including
his highly publicized fights with whom?
A: Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman.
Ali thrived in the spotlight at a time when many boxers
did what?
A: Let their managers do the talking.
He became renowned for his what?
A: Provocative and outlandish persona.
He was famous for trash-talking, often free-styled with
what?
A: Rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry incorporating elements of hip hop
He often predicted in which round he would do what?
A: knockout his opponent.
Outside boxing, Ali attained success as a what?
A: A spoken word artist, releasing two studio albums: I Am the Greatest!
(1963) and The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay (1976).
Both albums received what?
A: Grammy Award nominations.
He also featured as a what?
A: An actor and writer, releasing two autobiographies.
Ali retired from boxing in 1981 and focused on what?
A: Religion, philanthropy and activism.
In 1984, he made public his what?
A: His diagnosis of Parkinson's syndrome.
